I wanted an opportunity to kick Copy X a bit. And then I wanted Fefnir to make faces at Zero like a stubborn child. I think I accomplished that pretty well, but with that being said, this chapter is going to considered non-canonical to the rest of the story and will never be referenced again. Thanks for reading so far!
. . .
Dr Weil had called them to his personal laboratory early in the morning. The first was the Guardians to arrive was Harpuia, the last was Fefnir (along with a lot of groaning about getting up too early). It surprised the four of them to see Copy X there, standing in a transport capsule that was connected to some kind of machine that looked vaguely human (or Reploid, really) like in shape.
Copy X looked as if they had arrived late, and seemed highly impatient.
"What the heck is this death trap Weil?" Fefnir demanded first, noticing that four more transport capsules were connected to the main machine.
"A time machine of sorts, and I want you five to test it." Weil told them. "The original product was loosely based off of the facial modeling of the original Mega Man X, with several quantum-physic variables added to create the first and only time traveling Reploid. Of course, I removed the Reploid portion of its DNA so that any thing that may remain is strictly time manipulation."
"Why can't you test it yourself then?" Fefnir questioned without a moment's hesitation.
"Because it still requires a Reploid-like body to manipulate it." Weil replied, with little emotion to his expression of voice. "If a human were to go through the machine, they may not make it out alive."
"Are all of us really required for this experiment?" Harpuia then asked. Dr Weil did not look the green Guardian in the eye as a single word left his mouth;
"Yes."
And then room fell into a silence.
"Now, if you Four Guardians would please, step into a transport capsule so we can begin." Dr Weil instructed them. Giving each other a wary look, the four Reploids did as they were told without another word- although some certainly did go unsaid.
"While you are exploring, you may find that you will not be able to touch anything." Dr Weil also told them. "It is quite similar to how the Mother Elf navigates; existing but not feeling. That is exactly how you will navigate as well. Are you ready?"
"Yes sir." all the Reploids replied in unison. Without another word, Dr Weil activated the machine. For a moment, it appeared as if nothing was happening, but then the Reploids received a horrifying shock that shot through their systems without warning. One by one, they each surrendered to the pain and when they woke back up, they were standing in a completely different room.
"Where are we?" Leviathan asked as the five of them took a look around.
"In the past." Phantom quipped.
"Yeah, we know that genius." Fefnir snarled. "Where did we end up?"
"Don't you mean 'when'?" Harpuia smirked as he looked up at something on a nearby wall.
"Whatever." Fefnir growled under his breath.
The green Guardian let out a small, satisfied smile as they all continued to look around. It didn't that long for them to discover that they had been placed in someone's home, and it was soon Leviathan who found that they weren't alone.
"What did you find Leviathan?" Copy X inquired as he walked over to where Leviathan was standing. Everyone followed the leader and crowded around the couch in the main living area. There, the five Reploids held their breaths when they realized that they were looking at the Mother Elf.
Or… at least they were looking at the woman who would later be known as the Mother Elf.
"She wants to be called Sephira." Copy X thoughtfully said out loud as he looked over her with a sense of love that he didn't show anyone else. He then tried to place a gentle hand on her head, but his hand fell right through. Horribly shocked, Copy X tried again, but it passed right through again. Starting to feel as angry as he was confused, Copy X now tried to desperately get a hold of her- either it be on her hand or an attempt to pick her up.
"Why… can't… I… touch… her…?!" Copy X demanded as he tried in futility to get any kind of hold on Sephira.
"It's just like Weil said." Harpuia told the fake, attempting to reassure his leader without touching him. "We see and feel the world as the Mother Elf does. We can not touch others because she can not."
"But why here?" Copy X snapped, turning to face the Guardians with absolute fury. "Why her? Why us?!"
"If that's been his intent all along, I'd think that it would be a new low for that bastard." Fefnir admitted.
"Did he mean to do this?" Leviathan questioned.
"He's testing us." Phantom spoke up. "He's testing for... something. I feel it's toward you in particular Tekiya. Can't you see it?"
"But why her?!" the fake demanded in a tone so fierce that it nearly shook the little shack. It was enough, apparently, that it woke Sephira up.
"X…?" she groggily mumbled as her eyelids slowly started to open. "Is it really that late?"
The Guardians and Copy X froze in place as the human slowly started to become more aware of her surroundings. Her eyes eventually fell onto Copy X himself, and she gave a still half-tired smile that almost made the Reploid lose feeling in his limbs.
"You look so stupid in the getup." she lightly laughed. "Our life is interesting enough, I don't think you need to role play."
"I like her already." Fefnir mumbled with a satisfied grin. Hearing a different voice made Sephira realize that Copy X wasn't the only one in the room too, and she nearly jumped at seeing them.
"Who are you?!" she then demanded as she attempted to sit up, hopefully getting some chance of a running start if they decided to attack her. But she got up too quickly, as she then let out a small yelp of pain before holding her side. Instinctively, the Guardians and Copy X rushed to her side and attempted to help her- she flinched when they all tried to touch her, and she looked up at them with a confused expression.
"Who are you?" she questioned again. "And why do you all kinda look like..."
"We're sorry to have bothered you Mo- madam." Copy X quipped first, almost making the mistake of calling her by the Mother Elf's name. "We are Reploids from a fairly distant time ahead of your own, via a dimensional wormhole that one of our influential leaders created. You may address me as Tekiya if you wish."
"Faker..." Sephira muttered to herself, before directly speaking to him, "And who are the clowns with you?"
"Clowns!" Fefnir snickered to himself. "I love this woman so much already, I might just stay here with her."
"The red one is Fighting Fefnir," Harpuia spoke up, giving his brother a rather dangerous look before turning to Sephira kindly. "I am Sage Harpuia, his older brother. My other brother and only sister are also here, Hidden Phantom (who is denoted in gray), and Fairy Leviathan (who is denoted in light blue). We make up the protectors of our city under the sobriquet of the Four Guardians. Tekiya is the leader of our city, and needed our assistance with this adventure."
"So who's watching your city while you're here?" the crafty human woman questioned. Suddenly, an idea hit the Guardians as if it never occurred to them- Copy X still seemed unfazed, however.
"Rest assured madam, we have other means of protection for our city." the leader informed her. Sephira gave a slow nod and said nothing against it.
"And here I thought I wouldn't go crazy from blood loss." she muttered instead with a groan as she laid back against the couch. She flinched for a moment as her body reclined, only letting out a sigh when she was comfortable again. The Guardians and Copy X backed away from her a bit to allow her to breathe. Sephira let out a long sigh as she turned to look at the odd group again, and her face moulded into a confused little expression.
"Why aren't you leaving? Usually my imagination flashes back into my mind with a wish- but you insane weirdos are still here."
"We need to request to leave." Copy X softly informed her. "You can't just will us away."
"You better leave before my eloper gets back." she spat back. "He can be a killer when he wants to. One look at you here and you can kiss your electronic AIs good bye. He's good at taking out AIs; too good in fact."
Copy X opened his mouth to give a matter-of-fact response, but was cut off when the door started to alert them that someone was trying to get into the house. Sephira gave Copy X a rather satisfied smirk as the door opened up.
"Seph are you alright?" came the concerned voice as its accompanied body came through the door. "Zero and I could hear you talking on the other side..."
"I'm fine." Sephira insisted while the original Mega Man X walked over to her to give a small kiss on the forehead. "I woke up from a nap, nothing spectacular."
"That's good to hear." X smiled, giving her another kiss. Sephira gave a smirk toward Copy X and the Guardians- any moment now… surely X could see them too. Right?
"You two could get a room." Zero impatiently huffed, standing by the door looking like he wanted to be any where but here.
"I tried getting up earlier, it didn't work out very well for me." Sephira muttered.
"I'm going to start dinner!" X quickly said, wanting to avoid any verbal fights the two were sure to get into.
"Right." Zero mused to himself as he diverted his attention to something else in the room. Responding to this with a rather curious, devious thought, Fefnir walked over to get a better look at Zero then proceeded to make rather ridiculous faces at the older Reploid. Zero didn't move an inch, nor realize that a Reploid from the future was teasing him.
"Fefnir." Harpuia hissed, attempting to get his brother out of possible trouble. The red Guardian turned to his brother and shrugged innocently, accidentally brushing his elbow against Zero in the process: this did cause a response, and the older Reploid shivered.
"When humans lose blood, they feel colder- not warmer." Zero coldly said as he made his way over the armchairs that sat across from the couch. Leviathan, who had decided to test her luck, was already trying to sit in one of them. "I think you could pull the dial back on you A/C..."
"You can't sit there!" Sephira quickly told Zero, as he attempted to sit on the armchair. The same armchair that Leviathan had tried occupying a few moments ago.
"Why not?"
The woman did not answer as she looked over at Leviathan, who was previously unaware that Zero was trying to sit down, and had then quickly jumped out of the spot and into a corner looking visibly ashamed. Sephira had gone silent, looking at Leviathan before shaking her head and looking back over at Zero.
"Never-" she started to say before X came back into the room. X looked at Zero and gave him a funny look.
"Why don't you sit?" the blue Reploid inquired to his friend thoughtfully.
"I'm not allowed to." Zero replied.
"Why not?"
"She won't let me."
X then turned to Sephira with a confused raise of his eyebrow.
"I thought I saw something there." the woman explained quickly. "In fact, I was just going to tell him that he could sit, and my eyes were just playing tricks on me."
"You were not." Zero argued.
"I was." Sephira replied darkly.
X glanced from Sephira to Zero with a conflicted face. "Why can't you two just get along?"
"Why do Reploids have one track minds?" Sephira questioned just as Zero asked, "Why can't some humans just keel over and die?"
X just stared at them before quickly turning on his heel to go back to the kitchen. "I'm going to go check on the yakisoba before it's ruined." he declared. "Unlike the chance of you two getting along."
"X!" Sephira suddenly said, "Before you go back, can you help me to my room please?"
"Of course." he agreed at the same time Zero let out an annoyed grunt.
X then helped Sephira sit up and stand before navigating her over to the only bedroom in the tiny home. Copy X and the Guardians squeezed into the room while X carefully placed Sephira in her bed and even covered her up.
"Dinner will be ready soon." X said to her, giving a small peck near her ear. "Think you can hold on until then?"
"I'm not going to die in ten minutes." Sephira playfully huffed.
"You don't know that." X replied tonelessly before giving her another kiss, this time on the lips and desperate. Copy X recoiled a bit- in their time Mega Man X was revered as a hero, but this…? He was vulnerable. Scared. And with all this talk, he still rejected the Mother Elf as her incarnate. This Mega Man X, the original, was so… weak. Why would anyone remember him as a fearless figure when this is what he acted like behind closed doors? It wasn't admirable in any light. It was… well, pathetic.
"I'll come back when its ready." X then told Sephira. She nodded in agreement before he started to head back out, closing the door behind him. Carefully, the dying human woman turned to see if Copy X and the Four Guardians were still there, and they were.
"I thought I was too old to have imaginary friends again." Sephira mumbled, just loud enough for the five to hear but not to alert X and Zero. "When I was a little girl, I had a time traveling friend named Over-1. He kinda looked like X when I think about it (maybe that's why I'm so attracted to him now) and you five… if X could have a twin and children, I'm sure you'd be the perfect examples. If you… if you five ever see Over-1, can you tell him that… tell him that I haven't forgotten about him. And I miss him, a lot..."
The Guardians all nodded their head in agreement, and Copy X let out an affirming word before giving a promising bow. Sephira smiled at them all before she started to drift into a dreamless sleep, and they too started to fade from that world back into their own.
What waited for them back in their own time wasn't as prosperous as what Sephira could dream for.
"Well?" Weil demanded. "What did you learn?"
The Guardians said nothing and looked to Copy X, in a way, they all knew that it was going to be his job to give the report.
"We were taken to a time before the Mother Elf was activated." Neo Arcadia's ruler announced calmly. "We were introduced to a small household where the situations in their private lives were… bleak, to say the least. The lady of the house knew a bit of the technology we used and was able to see us, her male cohorts, however, could not."
"She could see you?" Weil questioned, raising an eyebrow.
"We have decided it was because she was once introduced to the same technology we used to see her." Copy X agreed. "Through a mutual connection, we were able to see and discuss things with each other although others could not see us. It was quite interesting, and might warrant further study."
"What information about the Mother Elf did you gain?" Weil asked, a hint in his voice indicated a sense of impatience.
"As I told you," Copy X affirmed with authority, "It was a time before the Mother Elf was constructed, there was no information to be studied. We simply visited a dying woman who could see us and had a light conversation with her."
Dr Weil looked Copy X over before accepting his words without another motion.
"Leave." the scientist then requested to the Reploids. "I'll let you five know if I'll need you again."
All nodding in agreement, The Four Guardians and Copy X left the room. The fake then bid farewell to the Guardians before heading off on his own -possibly in the direction of the Mother Elf- leaving the Guardians to head back to their assigned positions.
"I can't believe Tekiya lied to Dr Weil..." Phantom whispered before they departed from each other. After a moment's thought, his siblings all nodded their head in agreement then left in their own directions without another word.